The Church today commemorates Hieromartyr Eutychius, who was a disciple of St. John the Theologian and sacrificed his life for his struggle to preach the Holy Gospel.
We also celebrate the memory of the New-Hieromartyr Cosmas of Aitolia, Equal of the Apostles, who deserved to receive the honour of the Teacher of the Greek Nation. Saint Cosmas was born in the Greek village Mega Dendron in the region of Aetolia-Acarnania under the Ottoman rule.
At the age of twenty, he went to Mount Athos, where he attended the local Theological Academy. He then became a monk and was ordained priest in the Philotheou monastery in Mount Athos.
Believing fervently in teaching and awakening the enslaved Greeks and receiving the blessing of Patriarch Sophronius of Constantinople, he began to proclaim the Ply Gospel at first in the churches of Constantinople and the surrounding villages, then in Thrace, in Macedonia, in Epirus, on the Aegean Islands and the Ionian Islands. He was proclaiming the need for dedication to the Orthodox Tradition and Greek education and knowledge.
He called upon Christians to establish schools throughout Greece under Ottoman rule. The Life-giving Cross of Jesus Christ was the flag of Saint Cosmas.
The miracles that he performed by the power of God in life and after his death are innumerable, while his teachings and prophecies, many of which refer to the liberation of Greece and to modern scientific discoveries, are beloved spiritual readings.
On August 24, 1779, Saint Cosmas of Aitolia was executed at Kolkondas, Fier District, near the mouth of the Seman river (in present-day Albania), at the behest of Ahmet Kurt Pasha, Ruler of Berat.
Those were the words of Saint Cosmas about knowledge, education and Greek letters: “Study, you, my brothers, you should educate yourselves as much as you can. And if the fathers did not learn how to read and write, then you should educate your children, to learn Greek […].” And he continues, “[…[ you must establish Greek schools, enlighten the people; because by reading Greek they enlighten the students’ mind as the sun illuminates the earth […].” Finally, he highlights, “because the school opens the Church, we learn what God is, what the Holy Trinity is, what an angel is, what virtue is, what demons are, what hell is. We learn everything from school.”
Source: Church of Cyprus